representative government.
They have worked well and I
do not see a case for changing them drastically. As regards the question of voting rights, functional
constituencies and direct elections provide two distinct
and separate channels for returning representatives to
the legislature. While it is appropriate to limit the
number of votes which a person may cast in either one of
these, it does not necessarily follow that he should not
be able to vote in both, given their somewhat different
nature. I understand that this issue will be looked into
by the Hong Kong Government as part of an overall review
of the Hong Kong electoral system.
Third, the Hong Kong Government is still considering
the composition of the Airport Consultative Committee and
the Governor of Hong Kong has had useful discussions
about it with Mr Lu Ping, Director of the Hong Kong and
Macau Affairs Office. The intention is indeed to have a
wide spectrum of community and business leaders on the
Committee which is likely to be a large body with some
30-50 representatives. I am sure that these
representatives will be able to cater well for the
interests of all sectors of the public.
Fourth, the Hong Kong Government has made
significant strides in the last several years to bring
more local Hong Kong persons onto statutory and advisory
committees and to appoint local chairmen. There are now
few statutory and consultative bodies which are headed by
expatriates. The objects, compostion and general operation of statutory bodies with executive
responsibilities are governed by law. LegCo have debated